New life for Auburn’s oldest roads

Reamer Street’s new coating of asphalt is rolled smooth during work by Darren Taylor Construction as part of the city’s annual overlay program.

About half a million dollars worth of asphalt overlay work will be smoothing out some of Auburn’s oldest roads.

This year’s city of Auburn program is being done by Darren Taylor Construction, with Downtown Auburn side roads — plus a section of Ophir Road within city limits completed this past week — getting a two-inch overlay of blacktop.

Jarring Downtown Auburn driving experiences should be smoothed over by the end of July.

The roads being resurfaced are:

Reamer Street

Cleveland Avenue

Tuttle Street

Center Street

Walsh Street

Almond Street

Agnes Street

Elm Avenue

Garfield Street

Lincoln Way

Harrison Avenue

Also part of the paving plan was a stretch of Ophir Road off Interstate 80 that is within city limits. The old Highway 40 ta-pocketa-pocketa sound familiar to drivers has been retained over much of that stretch, with the overlay restricted to the eastern end of the offramp.

City Public Works Director Bernie Schroeder said the question of whether Nevada Street will also have an asphalt overlay is still outstanding. The second phase of the sidewalk and bike lane project between Interstate 80 and Blocker Drive is is being re-advertised for bids, which would either result in execution of the project or an overlay, Schroeder said.

“Until bids are received we will not know our options,” Schroeder said.